The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Cozy Mystery (and Other Favorite) Books, Movies, and TV

British Television Mystery Series: The Madame Blanc Mysteries

This is yet another new (2021) British Cozy Mystery television series that my husband and I enjoy. It’s very Cozy — so if you’re looking for gratuitous violence, sex, language, and/or action-filled car chases — then this isn’t the TV series for you. We just happen to prefer Cozy Mystery television series…

Sally Lindsay (Jean White, the main character) and Sue Vincent (Gloria, a secondary character) are the creators and owners of the production company that makes The Madame Blanc Mysteries. The series features a British antiques dealer who moves to a quaint French village after the death of her husband. Her husband had been sort of stationed in this antiques mecca village for their business – with her living in England. Jean (Madame Blanc) comes to the village to sell their “cottage”. Unfortunately Jean finds out that her husband has depleted all their money and has been living a life that Jean was not at all aware of.

Luckily, Jean hires a taxi driver to get her around (Dom – played by Steve Edge) and he becomes her crime-solving sidekick. Jean starts her sleuthing in order to find out just how her husband died. It turns out that Jean’s attention to detail from her years of antiquing helps her become a very good amateur sleuth!

And, of course, since this is a true Cozy TV series, the village is full of friendly, eccentric people. The French village setting is beautiful. It was filmed in Malta – an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, so expect to see beauty all around.

Each 45-minute episode is self-contained – with an arc line that goes through the entire first season. I’m not crazy about ongoing plot arcs – so I am happy the main mysteries are solved during each episode. However, there is a background arc that runs through the entire first season.

I not only enjoyed the characters, scenery, plots, acting, & wardrobe – I also enjoyed hearing about the antiques featured in the shows. The show didn’t ramble on and on about antiquing, but it did include just enough facts to make it interesting.

I recommend The Madame Blanc Mysteries to those of you who are looking for a true Cozy Mystery TV series. It is available on Acorn TV.

British Television Mystery Series: McDonald & Dodds

First, let me start off by saying I love this ITV British television crime series. McDonald & Dodds takes place in Bath, a beautiful English city which is about 100 miles from London.

Detective Chief Inspector McDonald (Tala Gouveia) is transferred from London to Bath – where she is ready to take on the world. She wants to move up the police ladder. Unfortunately for her, she is forced to partner with Detective Sergeant Dodds (Jason Watkins). The Chief Superintendent (James Murray) wants to force Dodds to retire since Dodds still works in a very deliberate and outdated mode. Dodds doesn’t use a computer for research since he much prefers going to the library to gather his facts. He also is a paper and pen note taker, etc. All of this irritates McDonald – but the Chief Superintendent is so determined to put an end to Dodds’ career that he refuses to let McDonald off the “make-him-retire” hook. Needless to say, Dodds is quite quirky…

McDonald is quite different than Dodds. She’s a very modern detective and is quite good at heading her small group of investigators. She is very ambitious and expects a lot from her officers.

All of the actors do great jobs portraying their unique characters. The writing is smart, the plots are interesting, and the setting is absolutely beautiful. I very much recommend McDonald & Dodd. It is currently aired on BritBox.

Spoiler alert: The show doesn’t force the two main characters to remain locked into their quirky vs. exasperated personalities. The two main characters actually evolve.

Foyle’s War Television Mystery Series

When Inspector Morse stopped production, Foyle’s War was to be its ITV short-term replacement. However, since it was such a huge success, more seasons were made. (Lucky for us!)

The series takes place in England during WWII. Foyle (played by Michael Kitchen) is a British police detective during the early 1940s who does not want to work as a civilian detective. He is forced to remain a non-military detective. His assignment is to work the crimes not deemed of a military nature, and he excels at this job he doesn’t particularly want.

Foyle does not drive, making it necessary for him to have an assigned driver – enter Honeysuckle Weeks (as Sam – as in Samantha.) Anthony Howell plays Foyle’s sergeant – a man wounded in the war >>> both emotionally & physically. The acting is terrific!~

Foyle’s War series takes place in quaint British villages – however, the devastation of WWII is apparent. Large stately mansions have been converted into hospitals for the troops, cobblestone streets wind through bombed-out sections of villages, it is not all cozy, quaint, and picturesque.

Michael Kitchen displays his pensive & expressive facial mannerisms, which is normal fare for him. Honeysuckle Weeks is too adorable for words. The productions are far superior to most US detective shows, the ambiance, settings, wardrobe, hair styles (especially Sam’s) are exactly what I would expect of the time and location of the series.

Anthony Horowitz both created and wrote scripts for the Foyle’s War series. Horowitz is responsible for writing other British series: Bravo to him!

The only negative I have about the show is when WWII ends. Why mess with perfection? I know I am in the decided minority on this, though. Even though Christopher Foyle didn’t want to investigate civilian crimes during WWII, I wanted him to so!

For more movie and television show recommendations, visit the TV and Movies page on my site.

As of this post, Foyle’s War is available on Acorn.

Bleak House Television Series

First let me say that my husband absolutely loves Charles Dickens. I, however, find a lot of his novels very sad and dark. The downtrodden seem to always be made more oppressed.  With that in mind, I must admit that I wasn’t all that keen to watch the Bleak House miniseries. However, having watched Gillian Anderson as she portrayed Scully in the X Files, I decided, why not! Imagine my surprise when I watched it and loved it!

Bleak House, the British miniseries based on Charles Dickens’ novel, is probably the best BBC production made in 2005. If I had to limit myself to one adjective, “Superb” would be my choice.

This BBC production stars a myriad of actors & actresses – each perfecting their characters. The settings are exactly as we would expect in a work by Dickens. Deep suffering & frustration is depicted in the dark, filthy, and murky scenes which feature the truly poor. The settings which show the lives of the rich are light, airy, opulent: deep, velvety furniture, high ceilings with paintings of finely-clad ancestors, servants with serving platters, etc.

The acting is a treat to watch. Anna Maxwell Martin is refreshingly unaffected as Esther (main character). I had never seen her before seeing Bleak House, and enjoyed her immensely. Denis Lawson does a wonderful job as the grounding “good man” in the production. Gillian Anderson surprised me! She was phenomenal as Lady Dedlock – (not at all Scully-ish!) Nathanial Parker is delightful as a simpering ninny. Warren Clarke (from Dalziel & Pascoe), Burn Gorman, Pauline Collins, and Alren Armstrong were all excellent in their parts — although as a fan of their work, I would have enjoyed seeing more of them!

This Victorian period piece drama is a treat to watch. As with most Dickens’ novels, some of the characters’ names are a delightful surprise. An example of this, Pauline Collins’ “Bird Lady” character is Miss Flite. (I wracked my brain to remember which Dickens’ novel had “Uriah Heep”! >>> David Copperfield)

The screenplay for Bleak House was written by Andrew Davies. If you are a follower/fan of fine British television productions, you no doubt recognize his name. He is responsible for the screenplays of many top-notch British productions.

I strongly recommend this production of Bleak House. It is currently on BritBox.

P.S. This is not a mystery – well, actually, there is a mystery of sorts… but it’s not a traditional “mystery show.”

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